The LIME project held its FINAL CONFERENCE on the 21st of June!
The month of June is the last month of the LIME project; therefore a lot happened these last weeks! After a successful International Capacity Building Workshop on the 9th of June, it was recently the Final Conference of the project which was held last Monday 21st of June.
The online event occurred within the scope of the General Assembly of ALDA, as the opening event. Thus we had the chance to be welcomed by Antonella Valmorbida, Secretary General of ALDA. Her speech insisted on the fact that migration is not only an issue, and should also be considered as a great resource. She also affirmed that this concern should be tackled by local authorities and communities, as the LIME project is a relevant example of it.
The Final Conference was also obviously the opportunity to showcase the achievements of the project, with an insightful presentation of the lead partner CIES Onlus. The LUMSA University also presented the last results of their research on the MEIC methodology and the “Toolkit for designing cluster interventions”. Last but not least, we also heard the voice of the beneficiaries themselves, with stories from the two pilot actions in Madrid, with Pinardi, and in Rome, with CIES Onlus.
We furthermore discussed the importance of migrants’ labour inclusion and the actions addressed by both the public and private sectors. In order to do so, we welcomed Angelique Petrits, European Commission Policy officer to present the Action Plan on Integration and Inclusion 2021-2027. One of the main aspects which was emphasized was the importance of increasing EU funding opportunities, as it allows local projects such as the LIME project to be implemented and foster migrants’ labour inclusion all over Europe.
On the other hand, we also discovered more about the role of private entities: CSR Europe indeed highlighted the necessity of involving all types of stakeholders as they presented their program “Business Uniting Talents 2030: Towards equal labour market participation for talents with migration roots” aiming to improve diversity and inclusion in the recruitment of big companies.
And that’s what Antonella Valmorbida also emphasized at the beginning of the conference: we need to move towards a multi stakeholders approach for migrant’s inclusion. In order to foster this approach, the LIME project will address an EU recommendation paper to the European commission, and the event was thereby the opportunity to collect opinions and feedback from a wide range of participants (NGO, local authorities, institutes, etc.) on this topic.
It is paramount to keep moving towards that direction of an inclusive and diverse labour market; even if the LIME project is ending soon, the methodology it designed must be implemented in other local contexts. As Gudnar Zapata, one of the migrants and beneficiaries of the LIME project, said during the Final Conference: “These types of projects are very important for newcomers”; so let’s keep going!
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